Instructor Internet Use

Procedure

1. Determine that access to the desired content is necessary and weigh against the reality that our District's Internet connection capacity has not increased. YouTube videos and Internet radio use many times more of the resource than standard web browsing. Overuse of these may require us to revert to restrictions on certain rich media. The content should relate directly to your curriculum and you cannot obtain it by any other means, e.g., standard radio receiver, DVD, etc.
2. Ensure that the computer from which you will access the restricted content is not used by students.
3. When presented with a block message screen, click the options link...
   
4. Select Option 1
   
5. Accept security notices with Continue, OK, or Accept
6. Enter your Performance Profile/Teacher Portal credentials and click Login
   

Your relaxed filtering profile will remain in effect for 90 minutes. After that, attempting to access restricted content will require reauthentication. Under the relaxed profile, pornography and web anonymizers are still blocked.

Background

• Teachers need access to educationally relevant rich media and text resources on the Internet. 
• Students need access to modern research tools in an environment that offers reasonable protections from harmful content and communications. 
• Our connection to the Internet has finite capacity shared by both employees and students.

It is a huge technical challenge to responsibly balance each of these dynamics.  YouTube can be both a blessing and a bane, depending upon how and when it is accessed.  Faculty may access the Internet with some relaxed filtering restrictions when necessary for instructional reasons.  This is accomplished through a login verifying a user’s identity as an instructor using Teacher Profile credentials.  To the extent possible, the technology will continue to present barriers to content that has no appropriate place in our schools and offices.